Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 35

Sect Leader An didn’t send his disciples in a swarm; instead, he sent out a single warrior wielding a sword.

It seemed he wanted to assess the opponent’s identity first, to prevent any unexpected attacks.

Even though the agreement was to fight in a mixed melee, who could argue if they sent out one person at a time for a one-on-one duel?

Seeing that only one person was coming from the other side, the Gold Merchant understood their intention.

“Hee hee hee hee.”

He let out a strange laugh, his voice grating on the ears. The guardian who stepped forward was a swordsman skilled in close combat, judging by his bulging biceps.

Unfazed by the opponent’s bizarre laughter, he maintained his composure, a clear sign of his extensive experience.

Only when he saw the guardian approaching did the Gold Merchant stop his strange laughter. He didn’t rush; instead, he took out a yellow talisman [a piece of paper inscribed with magical symbols] from his pocket and began chanting a spell.

The Seven Mysteries Sect guardian, not wanting him to finish the spell, kicked off the ground and closed the distance to the Gold Merchant in a few strides. He raised his sword high and charged at the opponent’s head with fierce momentum.

The spell was already complete by the time the blade was about to strike the Gold Merchant. Then, a dazzling golden light began to emanate from his hand.

The guardian had difficulty seeing through the intense light, but he didn’t panic and firmly brought down his sword.

“Clang!”

The sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the arena.

Jang Han felt a pain as if his grip was tearing apart and almost dropped his sword. He was so surprised that he kicked off the ground and retreated with a ‘whoosh, whoosh’ sound.

At this moment, many people in the arena exclaimed in admiration. He quickly looked ahead to see what had happened.

The Gold Merchant was still standing there without moving, and his entire body was glowing with golden light.

This golden light covered him like thick armor, seemingly impenetrable even to wind and rain. He didn’t know what the golden light was, but his attack had been useless.

He was gripping his sword, but he didn’t know whether to attack again or retreat. Not only him, but everyone on Sunset Peak felt the same way.

Very few people in the martial world knew about cultivators [practitioners of magic]. Talismans and spells were mysterious phenomena to them, and they couldn’t gauge their power. Only Ga Cheon-ryong was pleased; the people of the Seven Mysteries Sect were all bewildered and speechless. And Han Li, who was mixed in with the crowd, was more shocked than anyone else.

Han Li was the only one on this peak, besides the dwarf, who knew about magic.

Therefore, he realized that what the opponent had used was a type of spell, like a spirit talisman, and probably a higher level of magic than that.

Han Li, taking advantage of the fact that others were not paying attention, secretly recited the incantation of the Heavenly Eye Technique. Then, he quickly turned his gaze towards the dwarf. The dwarf’s body was revealed beneath the golden light, and a faint white light flickered within him. This white light was so faint that it wouldn’t be noticed unless one was deliberately looking for it.

Surprisingly, this dwarf was a cultivator with significantly lower magical power than himself. This discovery made Han Li happy, but also worried.

He was happy because the opponent’s magical power was lower than his, so it was clear that the opponent was a fake cultivator. He was worried because he didn’t know how much magic the opponent could use, or how powerful it was.

* * *

Han Li turned to look at Sect Leader An, who was discussing something with three people next to him, looking very troubled by the golden light covering the dwarf’s body.

‘Hee hee hee.’

The Gold Merchant’s strange laughter erupted again. He tilted his head back, raised his nose, and arrogantly shouted,

“I will stand here without moving, so anyone can attack me. If anyone can break this venerable one’s Vajra Indestructible Body [a Buddhist term for an unyielding body], I will spare your lives.”

After speaking, he began to chuckle again.

The Gold Merchant’s words angered the disciples of the Seven Mysteries Sect, and some of the more skilled ones were about to rush out, but they were stopped by Sect Leader An. Sect Leader An waved his arm and called back the guardian who had been facing the dwarf.

Then, he called a sturdy and valiant man behind him and said something. The man nodded at Sect Leader An’s words and walked towards the dwarf.

In fact, he was a man over sixty years old who had already made great achievements in the Seven Mysteries Sect. He had faced countless enemies, so he did not start attacking rashly.

He carefully examined the golden light, then suddenly pierced the golden barrier with just two fingers.

‘Ting!’

A clear sound echoed. The Gold Merchant, angered by the frivolous movement, shouted,

“You lowlife, should this venerable one send you to be reincarnated a little earlier?”

The man suddenly stomped his foot, appearing on the dwarf’s side and then behind him.

He circled around the Gold Merchant, and the speed of his circling increased, and in an instant, his shadow became blurred and disappeared.

The Gold Merchant was furious at the opponent’s actions and rummaged through his pocket. The man with the sideburns, who was circling around, was also watching the opponent’s actions.

“Uwaaaaaaah!”

The man began to shout loudly, and it was as majestic as a tiger’s roar, making everyone on Sunset Peak’s ears ring.

The Gold Merchant’s whole body trembled at the shout, and he didn’t even have the strength to take his hand out of his pocket.

‘Crack.’

Suddenly, the sound of joints cracking was heard from the man’s body. This sound grew louder and louder, eventually drowning out the shout. When the man finally stopped in front of the dwarf, the shout and the explosive sound both stopped.

Only then did those who had regained their senses discover that the man’s body had grown more than twice its size. The muscles in his chest and arms were even more swollen, and they had a black sheen like steel.

He looked like a giant. The Gold Merchant also took out a long wooden case from his pocket, which had a talisman attached to it, sealing the contents inside.

Before the dwarf could tear off the talisman, the man, who had transformed into a giant, swung his massive hand and firmly struck the golden barrier.

The golden light began to shake and tremble incessantly, making it impossible to completely remove the talisman.

The Gold Merchant was terrified. He knew the immense power of his Golden Light Shield, but the man had struck it and deformed it. How superhuman was his strength? He focused even more on tearing off the talisman.

‘Tear.’

The talisman was torn off, and a look of relief began to appear on his face.

‘Bang! Bang!’

Collision sounds rang out in succession, and the Golden Light Shield vibrated. As his body shook madly, he sat down on the ground.

When he looked up, the man was using his hands and feet to launch a storm of attacks at the Golden Light Shield.

The golden barrier surrounding the Gold Merchant’s body was denting and bending like a squashed dumpling under the opponent’s kicks and punches, looking as if it would break or tear at any moment.

At this point, the Gold Merchant turned pale and began to flail his hands and feet. He was chanting a spell, but unfortunately, he kept making mistakes, and there was no change in the black armor.

Ga Cheon-ryong, who was watching this, was dumbfounded. He was surprised by the Gold Merchant’s actions, which were different from his words, and by the martial arts of Sect Leader An’s martial uncle.

He had previously experienced the power of the Golden Light Shield firsthand, and it was like a solid shield made of diamond. But now, it was being kneaded like dough under the man’s hands and feet.

Ga Cheon-ryong regretted accepting this duel when he thought that there were two more martial uncles with similar skills as this man.

Now he understood why Sect Leader An had confidently proposed the blood duel. He was troubled as he watched the Gold Merchant being pushed into a disadvantage.

He was afraid that if he didn’t help the cultivator soon, he would die without even using his Flying Sword Technique.

* * *

Every time the Seven Mysteries Sect man attacked the golden light, it dented and shook as if it would break at any moment, but his hands and feet had to endure tremendous elasticity every time they touched the golden light.

The stronger the force he poured in, the greater the elasticity, and the pain in his hands and feet was severe. If his energy ran out, they would probably start to swell immediately.

Moreover, the golden light would immediately return to its original shape when he withdrew his hands. No matter how much he attacked, the Golden Light Shield only shook and never broke.

Only then did people acknowledge that the golden barrier could be shaken but not destroyed. Ga Cheon-ryong, who had been troubled, gave up on sending someone and regained his composure.

The Gold Merchant, failing his spells repeatedly because the opponent did not stop attacking, began to chant a spell in an unintelligible language this time.

The man was still attacking the Golden Light Shield at a furious pace, regardless of the Gold Merchant’s change.

‘Bang bang! Thud!’

After launching attacks with all his might using both hands and feet, the man suddenly turned and ran backward. It was a speed that didn’t match his massive body.

The Gold Merchant stared blankly at him for a moment, then roared in anger and quickly sat cross-legged, beginning to chant something.

At this time, the man who had been running was preparing to return to his group. But suddenly, a huge shout of “Rise!” rang out from behind him, and Sect Leader An’s group turned pale and shouted for him to be careful.

With a chilling feeling, he quickly twisted his body to the left and turned his head.

A dim light flashed past the spot where he had just been, like a lightning bolt, and grazed his shoulder.

He was afraid, but now that he had even dodged that hidden weapon, he just needed to get back to his fellow disciples.

But as he was about to lower his head due to the extreme pain he suddenly felt in his right shoulder, a light flashed before his eyes, and a gray ray pierced through his chest. It was the hidden weapon he had just dodged.

‘Thud.’

Before he could even say anything in shock, his body fell to the ground. Only then did the man realize that his right shoulder had been cut off, and he lost consciousness without knowing what had happened. But the people of Arangdan and the Seven Mysteries Sect saw it clearly.

When the dwarf made a hand seal and chanted a spell, and finally shouted “Rise,” a gray ray in the shape of a sword flew out of the black armor and went towards the man as his finger pointed. The man had quickly tilted his body and avoided having his chest pierced, but when it grazed his shoulder, his shoulder was surprisingly severed.

Then, when the dwarf flicked his fingertip, the gray ray suddenly made a sharp turn and passed through his chest. Everyone who saw this scene thought of the word ‘Flying Sword’.

There was no way they wouldn’t know about the Flying Sword that appeared in legends. The gray ray was so similar to the Flying Sword used by the legendary Sword Immortals that they thought it was the same.

Now, many people looked at the Gold Merchant with awe.

In response to this reaction, the Gold Merchant raised his head and arrogantly controlled the gray ray. The morale of Ga Cheon-ryong’s side was boosted by the movement of this ray, while the fighting spirit of the Seven Mysteries Sect’s side was diminished.

Han Li didn’t know whether that ray was a Flying Sword or not, but it was clear that it was an object that could be controlled with the Object Manipulation Technique.

Now, Han Li’s mind was filled with the thought of killing that man and taking his treasure. His desire for the path of a cultivator was growing even stronger.
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